http://www.webmd.com/content/Article/118/112924.htm

I found this link to be very interesting. I know so many people are intent on not eating after a certain time of day since there is a belief that you are more likely to gain weight if you eat at night. That didn't match my experience, where I routinely got home from work late and had big dinners at 9-9:30 and then went to bed. Didn't seem to affect my weight loss at all. Nice to see the science backs it up!

"If it were true that nighttime eating made you fat, everyone in Spain would be obese -- because they don't eat dinner until 10 p.m."

Oprah - keep chewing that orange zest after 6:00 pm, baby.

Hey!

Thank you for the information!!!! Tres cool.

I always was one of those, "do not eat after a certain time" people, but you have my attention.

This is great news. I have had so many people tell me that I would loss weight if I stopped eating after 6pm. I'm lucky if I get dinner by 8pm.
Thanks for sharing the article

Leec

I lost most of my weight whilst working 12 noon to 8pm shifts, with a one and a half hour commute home, so dinner at 10pm most nights.

I never quite believed the "thou shalt not eat after x o'clock" I held with the calories in calories out theory, and it's nice to know I was on the right scientific track.

I never really believed that eating after a certain time made me gain weight. HOWEVER, I've found in my own life that if I don't eat after 8, I eat less. And I eat better food. After 8, I tend to grab "munchies" such as chips, crackers, and candy. I'm less alert, so I don't realize what I'm doing until it's too late.

Thanks for the article Glory, I agree fully. I understand the "mental" implications of not eating late, but for me it's always been easier to space out lighter snacks during the day and eat a bigger dinner (I'm sure these are all psychological limitations) and if I'm eating like I'm supposed to it's worked so far

While I don't completely discount this study, I think a more valid (and less invasive) one could have been done using human subjects. Makes me wonder why they didn't.

I've never thought that the time of day that a calorie is consumed matters. I do believe that the number of hours spent eating and the number of hours awake does. For example, when my husband stays up late several hours after I go to bed he eats more than I do. (I know because of the leftover dirty dishes and the missing food. ) I get up earlier then him but spend that time preparing breakfast and packing lunches, etc. However, I tend to eat more in the morning than him, because I've been awake longer burning calories.

"New study shows weight gain depends on how many calories we eat"

Trust me...you're not the only one - For me, that's the main point of setting a rule of not eating after such and such a time - because it's so easy to get into a habit of snacking mindlessly in front of the teevee or getting up during a suggestive commercial (if you KWIM!) to see what the Snack Fairy has left in the fridge during the past 15 minutes...



Since I have 'weird hours' after work (classes at the gym, riding lessons, etc) it's usually impossible for me to have dinner before, say, 6:30 or 7:00 (or even later...there's a great boot camp class at the gym from 7-8 pm tonight that I was thinking about going to which means dinner for me will be at around 8:15-8:30). But I have a rule - after dinner, the kitchen is CLOSED. And I always find it's best to have a PLANNED dinner - if I don't have anything planned then it tends to turn into a snackfest which is NOT a good thing...

just my two cents...

I never paid attention to what time I eat. A friend of mine says, "I don't eat anything after 7pm, even if I'm hungry." And I would always say, "Why?"

As long as you keep it within your calorie range, it makes NO difference what time of the day you eat. Your body processes food the same at 12 midnight as it does at 12 noon. I've lost 80 pounds eating late at night - every night.

Denying yourself food just because it's a certain time of the day is just plain crazy. And unnecessary!

lol! I thought the same thing. I was like, this is their new study? Well duh! Ask the many of us that have already figured that out.

Excess calories make you fat. Not what time of day you eat.

I third Susan B's comment! I need a bang head against wall smilie!

I understand this to a point, but for me if I eat later in the evening I don't tend to eat the right type of foods. After I eat supper that's it for me. Hungry or not. I usually eat around 5:30 or 6:00 and go to bed around 10 or 11. If I were to eat I'm sure it would not be the healthiest of choices. It just helps me to say "ok, I'm not eating anything after 6".

I'm with Oprah - not because I think evening calories have a different impact, but because by 6 or 7 pm I have used up all my calories for the day. Eating late in the evening puts me over my daily limit and compromises my weight loss.

Planning is everything. I have always been an evening snacker. It's something that I've had to deal with. I leave calories for later. Nobody should go to bed hungry.